Man Gets 26 Years For Downtown Hotel Homicide

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 33-year-old Dayton man was sentenced to 26 years in prison Monday in connection with a February murder at a downtown hotel.

A judge sentenced Brian Vincent Griffin to 312 months in prison on charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, court records show.

Griffin was charged for shooting and killing Jeremy Shannon at the Millennium Hotel on Feb. 11. Police also said Griffin shot at other men in the hotel room.

According to the criminal complaint, Griffin, Shannon and two other men were smoking meth in a hotel room. Around 2:15 a.m., Griffin stood up and walked to the door, as though he was leaving the room. That's when he pulled a gun from his waist band and started shooting at Shannon and the other men.

Griffin admitted to police that Shannon and the other men were talking about things that made him nervous and he intended to leave but then thought, "I have to do this," according to the criminal complaint.

Griffin was found hiding in a closet at the nearby Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis, shortly after the shooting.